Take That, Ladies! Male Lions Ambush Prey

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Female lions have been thought of as the breadwinners (or,
really, meatwinners) for their species, going out in groups to
look for food at night.

New research, however, suggests male lions can be quite
successful hunters, too, but they use solitary, ambush-style
techniques to attack their prey instead of the cooperative
stalking strategies of the females.

Researchers created 3D maps of the savanna vegetation in South
Africa's Kruger National Park. They then overlaid GPS data from a
pride of seven lions in
the park, drawing lines of sight, or "viewsheds," that radiated
outward from the spots where the lions rested to where they
killed their prey.

Both male and female lions rested in shady areas with dense
vegetation and short viewsheds during the day, the researchers
found. But when it came time to look for food at night, lionesses
rested and hunted in areas with large viewsheds, working together
to find prey in open grassy savannas. Male lions, meanwhile,
stuck to areas with dense vegetation and short viewsheds at
night, but they also logged successful kills, suggesting that
they were ambushing other animals from behind shrubs and trees.

The researchers say their study needs to be repeated among other
lion prides in Africa's savannas to confirm their results, but
their findings could have implications for wildlife management.

"By strongly linking male
lion hunting behavior to dense vegetation, this study
suggests that changes to vegetation structure, such as through
fire management, could greatly alter the balance of predators and
prey," study researcher Scott Loarie, of the Carnegie Institution
for Science, said in a statement.

Carnegie's Greg Asner added: "With large mammals increasingly
confined to protected areas, understanding how to maintain their
habitat to best support their natural behavior is a critical
conservation priority."